(WBEN) - As many gear up to view, what some are calling, "The Great North American Eclipse" in the Path of Totality on April 8, one Central Texas county has declared a state of emergency ahead of the event to better prepare themselves for the influx of visitors ahead.
Bell County Texas Judge David Blackburn made the official announcement last week.
"The reason for issuing it was [based on] discussions that I've been having with our Office of Emergency Management, as well as with our State Department of Emergency Management," Judge Blackburn told WBEN. "By their estimates, we're expecting to see a doubling of our population over perhaps about a three-day weekend for that week."
Bell County, which has a population of about 400,000, could have their resources strained due to the increased volume of people.
"A doubling of that population is expected to put a significant strain on traffic, hospital systems and potentially other pieces of infrastructure in the county," explained the judge.
Other reasons for this declaration issue pertain to ways the state can help the county under Texas law.
"The declaration, under Texas law, gives us some leverage to ask the state for assistance if and when we need it during the event, and that assistance can take many forms. But it's typically equipment or other pieces of infrastructure that would help us manage traffic on interstates or on major thoroughfares."
In addition, this declaration allows the county the ability to identify watch parties in unincorporated areas of the county and send emergency personnel if needed.
"So what the declaration did was ask property owners in the unincorporated areas of the county that are intending to host watch parties or camping for gatherings of 50 or more, if they would fill out a very simple one page registration form online, just to let us know the location of that gathering. That information will be entered into our 911 Center, which dispatches first responders across the entire county and it'll help them in the event there are responses that are needed, either to these locations or these locations where they would otherwise not expect to see traffic or patterns that would perhaps inhibit their ability to respond," said Judge Blackburn.
Judge Blackburn mentions that many businesses and schools will be closed on the day including their government offices. The county is strongly encouraging the community to stay home to view the eclipse. In addition, make sure that all those in the community run their errands before the prior to the weekend leading up to the eclipse.
"I think we're preparing well for it. I think it'll be a good event. There's lots of activities planned for that week. As a matter of fact, colleges and universities are doing different things and some of these events are week-long events associated with the Eclipse leading up to that. So hopefully it'd be a good fun, safe time for everyone that the travels to Bell County."